Politics, Church and a forgotten Great Commission

By Everett Kirkman

We missed it, or did we? Dr. Vincent Bacote spoke at the Bryan chapel on Monday the 19th of Sep. concerning Christians in the realm of politics. He spoke concerning our rightful place in politics, and how we should handle undesirable situations, and a special subject he called the “forgotten Great Commission.”

Dr Vincent Bacote
Dr Vincent Bacote

Bacote is an associate professor of theology at Wheaton College and the director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton, in Ill. He serves as a regular columnist for multiple magazines including the Journal for Christian Theological Research.

After chapel, Bacote had a question and answer session with Col. Ron Petitte’s Foundations of Leadership Class and Dr. Reginald Ecarma’s Persuasive Communication classes. Ecarma introduced then moderated the informative session. Bacote discussed persecution, politics, the Great Commission, and the “forgotten Great Commision,” also known as the Creation Mandate.

Bacote explained how many people forget about the Creation Mandate, while remembering the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Dr. Bacote chose to focus more on the Creation Mandate given in Genesis 1:28:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

“This commission gives dominion and power to mankind over the earth,” Dr. Bacote said.

He asked some thought provoking questions. How can we as Christians take control of, rule, and subdue the earth if we are not present in the political sphere, and spheres of power? Bacote said that Christians ought not to shy away from politics but ought to embrace the role that we can play in upholding the Forgotten Great Commission.

 

Ecarma said that the speaker challenged the audience to engage their culture under both commands: the Great Commission and the Creation Mandate. “The College motto of ‘difference maker’ should be employed in all areas of life outside of Bryan.